**_A teacher & his students take a field trip to Big Bear Lake where havoc ensues_**
This is only a cabin-in-the-woods movie on the surface. It’s way more than a conventional creature feature with the core story revolving around protagonist Kerry (Suzanne Davis) receiving recovered memory therapy from a shrink (Dan Lauria). This form of ‘therapy’ was popular in the 1980s and early 1990s but was scientifically discredited by the late 1990s, which fits the production date, 1999.
I’m sharing this to help you appreciate what this unique film has to offer. People lambaste it because it doesn’t spoon-feed answers but rather respects the intelligence of the viewer to put the ambiguous pieces together. From this perspective, there are no monsters in the woods, as depicted in Kerry’s ‘memories.’ Rather, the ‘monster’ is far more mundane and relevant to real life.
I’d say more, but I don’t want to give away spoilers. It’s best to see the movie for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
Is it worth watching if you just want a cabin-in-the-woods flick? I think so, just be braced for a schizophrenic approach and more depth. While the first 20 minutes can be kind of annoying, the flick finds its footing while continuing with the intercuts of flashbacks, flashforwards, dubious memories and delusional bits.
It’s worth catching just for curly blonde Suzanne Davis, who gave acting her best shot for five years from 1996-2000 before choosing to leave the profession (except for a TV movie in 2004). Wendi Kenya and Cerina Vincent are also on hand in peripheral female roles. The latter wouldn’t blossom into her full beauty until 5-6 years later with movies like “Intermedio,” “It Waits” and “Sasquatch Mountain,” aka “Devil on the Mountain.”
On the masculine side of things, Stacy Keach appears as the teacher while Billy Dee Williams is on hand as the sheriff.
It runs 1h 33h and was shot a hundred miles east of Los Angeles in the San Bernardino Mountains at Big Bear Lake and Big Bear City, as well as south of there in Angelus Oaks.
GRADE: B+/A-
